


Ya'aburnee

by MoonlightBreeze



Series: Whumptober 2020 [14]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash, Girls Kissing, Heat Stroke, Hospitalization, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, JJ finds out why Emily really wears long sleeves, Kissing, POV Emily Prentiss, POV Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Secrets, Support, Whumptober 2020, as you can probably tell I have no idea what to tag this, in the past tense though, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27092470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightBreeze/pseuds/MoonlightBreeze
Summary: After Emily passes out from the heat, JJ learns why she really wears long sleeves all the time.Whumptober 2020 prompt fic - Heat exhaustionWarning for self-harm in the past tense! Please keep your lovely selves safe. <3Happy ending!!
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Series: Whumptober 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950094
Comments: 4
Kudos: 70





	Ya'aburnee

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! This Whumptober fic is written for this prompt: heat exhaustion. It's been a while since I've written fic for Criminal Minds (my old ones are hidden away in my ff.net shame cave) but I wanted to take it up again, in part thanks to [Em](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemilyj) and [Junie](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/HopeSilverheart/pseuds/HopeSilverheart), who are both amazing and talented authors that you should check out! I apologise if this is OOC. 
> 
> There's a warning for self-harm in the past tense on this fic! Please keep yourselves safe! <3 
> 
> The title is an Arabic phrase that means "You bury me". It's used to describe the hope that the person you love will outlive you so you don't have to face the pain of living without them. 
> 
> I really hope you like this!! Kudos make my day and comments validate my existence, so please feel free to leave those, if you want :) And, as always, I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
> 
> ~ Em

“Em, you’re going to overheat,” JJ said worriedly, her brows drawing together with concern. She knew she sounded a lot like a mother hen, but it was nearly 100 degrees and the air conditioning unit in the police precinct was broken. 

Emily looked over at her, tugging on the long sleeves of her dark blue shirt. It was soaked through with sweat, but she still refused to change into something cooler. Her eyes flashed with some emotion JJ couldn’t identify - anxiety, maybe, but that didn’t make any sense - and she pressed her lips together primly. 

“I’m fine,” she replied. JJ gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes. “Really.”

“Okay,” JJ drawled, “but the second you start showing signs of dehydration, I’m pumping you full of fluids and taking you out of the field.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Emily replied, and JJ smiled at her fondly. For all of the stubborn agent’s bravado and toughness, JJ knew that Emily really needed someone looking out for her, and she appreciated that the someone was JJ. 

~ ~ ~

By midday, the team was no closer to catching a break than they were that morning, and everyone was hot, tired, and discouraged. Hotch took one look at the team when they gathered in the conference room for lunch and decided to let them take an early day and pick back up again tomorrow. JJ flashed her boss a grateful smile and let her eyes roam around the conference room, searching for Emily. This was exactly what she needed - a chance to rest, relax, and recuperate with her girlfriend before putting her nose back to the grindstone and figuring out who was murdering women in Fall Springs, Arizona. 

Emily wasn’t in the conference room, to JJ’s surprise, and a search of the officers’ bullpen didn’t turn up anything, either. JJ chewed her bottom lip nervously and considered alerting Hotch. It wasn’t like Emily to disappear like this. 

JJ caught sight of the precinct bathrooms in her peripheral vision, and she nearly smacked herself for her own stupidity. _Of course._ She turned the knob and let herself into the bathroom. “Em?” she called out. There was no response. 

JJ swept her gaze over the entire bathroom, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight that met her eyes. 

Emily was lying on the bathroom floor in a heap, her dark brown hair like a halo around her head. JJ rushed over to her, turning her onto her back so she could check for a pulse. 

To her relief, JJ could feel a faint pulse beating beneath her fingertips. Emily was alive. She dug her cellphone out of her pocket and pressed #6 on the speed dial. 

“Morgan,” he answered immediately. 

“Morgan, you’ve got to help me,” JJ cried into the phone. “Emily, she, she - ”

“Okay, okay, I’m on my way,” Morgan said, and she could hear the sound of voices in the background and guessed that Morgan was telling Hotch something was wrong. “Where are you?”

“In the bathrooms,” JJ responded. “Please, Morgan, you’ve got to hurry! Call 911, Emily needs an ambulance.”

“Shit,” Morgan cursed. “Shit, okay, JJ, we’re on our way.”

With that, he hung up and JJ was left to try and calm her racing heartbeat. She couldn’t afford to break down right now. Emily needed her. 

Not even a minute had passed before Morgan was rushing into the bathroom, Hotch, Reid, and Rossi on his heels. He ran over to JJ and took Emily from her gently, picking her up and settling her into his arms with ease. 

“Paramedics are on their way,” Hotch informed them. “Come on, let’s go.” He led the way outside, ignoring the confused looks of the local law enforcement, to wait for the ambulance. JJ closed her eyes and clutched the necklace, Rosaline’s necklace, at her throat tightly. 

JJ wasn’t a particularly religious person, but she sent up a prayer that Emily would be okay. She didn’t know what she would do if she wasn’t. 

~ ~ ~

Emily woke to the sound of voices whispering in hushed tones and the clean stench of bleach and antiseptic. _Hospital_. What had happened?

“Shh, guys, I think she’s waking up.” Emily identified JJ’s voice, and a little surge of relief washed over her. So JJ was okay. Good. That was good. 

“We’ll leave you two alone,” another voice, maybe Hotch’s, said. Emily struggled to open her eyes as she heard footsteps retreating into the hallway. 

“Hey, angel,” JJ’s soft voice addressed her. Emily blinked once, twice, a third time, and finally managed to open her eyes. The bright white lights of the hospital room blinded her temporarily, and JJ waited until she had collected her bearings to speak again. 

“You passed out,” she informed Emily. “Heat exhaustion.”

Emily blushed and looked down at her lap, avoiding JJ’s gaze. The sight that greeted her eyes, however, made her lips part in horror and her hands clench into fists at her sides. 

_Oh, no._

“Emily, I - ” JJ broke off, sounding tearful. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was a long time ago,” Emily mumbled. “I guess I didn’t feel the need to.”

“You didn’t feel the need to tell your girlfriend you’re a self-harmer?!” JJ retorted. 

“ _Was_ a self-harmer,” Emily corrected sharply. “I haven’t taken a blade to my wrists in over two years, JJ.”

“Still,” JJ said, a few tears spilling over and rolling down her cheeks. “It sounds to me like you don’t trust me.”

“I do trust you!” Emily exclaimed. “JJ, of course I trust you. This isn’t about that at all.”

“Then what is it about?”

“This is a part of me I never wanted to show you,” Emily admitted, focusing her gaze on her lap and the now-exposed years’ worth of scars that decorated her arms. “I-I wouldn’t say I’m ashamed of it, but…” She bit her lip and met JJ’s eyes once more. “These aren’t who I am now, and I just didn’t want you to judge me for something that I did a long time ago.”

“I would never judge you for anything,” JJ said fiercely, moving closer to sit next to Emily. “Em, you _know_ that.”

“Yeah,” Emily said, smiling a little ruefully. “Yeah, I do.”

They were quiet for a minute or so, JJ threading her fingers through Emily’s and pressing a soft kiss to her girlfriend’s knuckles. Then, she spoke up, her tone soft and heavy with guilt: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak out on you earlier.”

“That’s okay,” Emily hastened to reassure her. “I know it’s a lot to find out about. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

JJ pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Emily’s mouth. “That’s okay, too.”

“Do the others know?” Emily asked, picking at a string on her hospital gown. 

JJ cringed guiltily. “Yeah. I let them in when the doctor was finished treating you. I-I never thought…” she trailed off, chewing her bottom lip anxiously. 

“It’s not your fault,” Emily said, giving her girlfriend’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “You couldn’t have known.”

“Yeah,” JJ breathed, curling into Emily’s side. Emily smiled and wrapped her arm around JJ’s shoulders, her free hand going to the other woman’s hair and stroking softly. 

“I promise I’m okay now,” Emily muttered. “I know it’s scary to see, well, all of _that_ \- ” she gestured to her bare arms and the scars that littered them, “ - but I swear that I’m in a much better place now than I was before.”

“Just...promise you’ll come to me if you ever feel like doing that again?” JJ peered up at Emily with tear-filled, pleading eyes. “I can’t lose you, Em, n-not like I lost Rosaline.”

Emily closed her eyes, a wave of guilt crashing over her. _Rosaline_. For a minute, she’d forgotten about JJ’s sister, forgotten that JJ had seen firsthand the havoc that something like this could wreak on someone she cared about. No wonder she had reacted so strongly. 

“You won’t,” Emily promised. “You won’t.”

JJ exhaled shakily, nodding. “Okay. I believe you.”

With that, Emily wrapped both arms around her girlfriend and whispered, “I’d never leave you. Not by choice.”

JJ began to cry quietly, tears falling like a summer rain onto the hospital gown Emily wore. “Shhh,” Emily whispered, running her fingers through JJ’s golden blonde hair. “Shh, baby, it’s okay. I promise. It’s in the past now, Jayj. I’m okay. _We’re_ okay. You are not going to lose me.”

“I-I know,” JJ responded, burying her face in the crook of Emily’s neck. “I know, Em, I just - ” She broke off, letting out a little sob that made Emily’s heart ache. 

“I know,” Emily said quietly. “It’s a lot. I understand.” She squeezed her girlfriend’s shoulders supportively. “It’s okay, Jayj, you’re allowed to be upset about it.”

“I love you so much,” JJ muttered, pressing a soft, open-mouthed kiss to Emily’s collarbone. 

“I love you, too, baby,” Emily said, dropping a gentle kiss to JJ’s forehead. “I’ve got you, Jayj. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know,” JJ replied. “I’ve got you, too, Em.”

And Emily knew, better than she knew her own name or how to take down an unruly perp, that what JJ said was true. They had each other, and as long as they had each other, everything would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> [Stalk me on Tumblr](http://moonlight-breeze-44.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Prompts are open, but very slow! Thanks for your patience! <3


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